Please: Genesee Valley, Do Something With The Old Flint Twp Sears

Right after Christmas we reported the latest infrastructure woes at Genesee Valley Center which caused incredible water damage from a burst water line. That issue certainly caused stress for tenants and disappointed would-be shoppers wanting to spend gift cards.

For long-empty spaces like the old Sears, it may not seem like a major loss, but locally owned businesses are trying to thrive in that wing, even without an anchor store.

Is anything new coming to the old Sears wing at Genesee Valley Mall in Flint, MI?

• Sears closed its Genesee Valley Center store (after nearly 50 years) in September 2018. The Sears Auto Center closed a couple of months before that. It's all been vacant since.
• Still no announced plans for the massive empty space.

What could go in the old Sears space at Genesee Valley Center?

• Since it seems like crickets for activity at the Flint Township property, I looked to a former Sears location in Traverse City, Michigan. While it wasn't part of a 1.2 million square foot mall like Genesee Valley, it was still a part of TC's Cherryland Center, a sizeable outdoor mall...

• Someone bought the old TC Sears property to convert into a K1 Speed go kart racing franchise, according to the Traverse Ticker. K1 is speeds up to 45mph for adults and 20mph for children - powerful go karts.

Get our free mobile app

• The owner, Dr. Ulysses Walls, says this plan will use half the space. The rest he hopes to convert into a trampoline facility.

Please Genesee Valley Center and Flint Township... think creatively, differently.

• Naysayers go immediately to crime or "nobody will support that." Guess what? That's what they say about EVERY. DAMN. THING. We must think differently.
  • Crime? Police and the mall can beef up presence.
  • "Nobody will show up?" BS. Families and friends want things to do. FFS the most Googled thing around Genesee County in 2022 was Comedy Shows. People are climbing the walls for something new and fun to do.

I'll say it again for the people in the back... If Genesee Valley Center fails, that entire area (especially the barren Linden Road stretch) is no longer a destination in our community. It doesn't have to be that way. Genesee County residents are allowed and deserve nice things, too.